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Brandon McCarthy watched from the bench Sunday as the Dodgers scored five runs in one inning and two in another. The more his team scored, the more he would have to wait to return to the mound. The long innings, combined with temperatures in the mid-to-high-90s, created a set of circumstances that were less than ideal for a pitcher. That's also why McCarthy thought the conditions were perfect. "It felt like a long six innings to get through, but it was good that I got to find out where I'm at conditioning-wise," McCarthy said. In his penultimate start of the exhibition season, McCarthy pitched 5 2/3 innings in the Dodgers' 10-5 victory over the Texas Rangers at...

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Brandon McCarthy watched from the bench Sunday as the Dodgers scored five runs in one inning and two in another. The more his team scored, the more he would have to wait to return to the mound.
The long innings, combined with temperatures in the...

It’s only spring training. It’s the refrain to temper expectations of a player scorching it in the exhibition season and to shrug off a veteran struggling.
But spring training is serious stuff when you’re trying to make the club or earn a starting...

Here’s a -- what should we call it? -- situation that seemed unlikely before the Dodgers opened camp: A surplus of left-handed relievers.
Since they spent most of last season using just one, J.P. Howell, this was hard to see coming. Yet with only 10 days...

AT THE PLATE: Yasiel Puig homered for the second consecutive day, launching a second-inning offering from former Dodger Brad Penny over the wall in left-center field. The home run was the fifth of the spring for Puig, who is batting .263 and leads the...

So many spring uncertainties. Will the Dodgers’ rotation stay healthy, the bullpen come together, the defense really be improved, Hector Olivera show up?
Nice to know there are some things you can count on, such as Stan Kasten saying he feels...

And then there was the Dodgers’ original Cuban. You remember Yasiel Puig, the outfielder with broad shoulders, a charismatic smile, untamed and with natural talent almost oozing from his pores.
Just in case San Diego had forgotten, he put on a...

Dodgers 9, San Diego 5
AT THE PLATE: Yasiel Puig hit a ball out of Camelback Ranch, his first-inning home run off Jason Lane hitting the Dodgers' administrative building adjacent to the spring-training stadium. The home run was the fourth of the spring...

Silence.
An eerie, sudden hush fell upon Hohokam Stadium on Friday afternoon in Mesa, Ariz.
Clayton Kershaw, the National League’s reigning MVP and Cy Young winner, had stabbed with his glove at a broken-bat comebacker and missed, the Andy Parrino drive...

Interesting couple of days for the Dodgers’ pitching staff. Hyun-Jin Ryu goes down with a sore shoulder, Clayton Kershaw gets a tooth chipped and then loses again, and now on Saturday, they lost one of their best-looking rotation replacements.
Chad...

Juan Uribe is the Dodgers' starter at third base this season, no matter how he performs this spring. Beyond that, who knows?
Uribe again? Unlikely.
Hector Olivera? Corey Seager? Alex Guerrero?
Uribe's contract expires at the end of this season. So do...

ATHLETICS 3, DODGERS 2 (split squad)
DODGERS 11, RANGERS 6 (split squad)
AT THE PLATE: The Dodgers scored eight runs in the first inning against Texas at the Alamodome, where the right-field foul pole was 275 feet from home plate. Each of the Dodgers'...

Themes in baseball can be fun, when the going is good. Not so much when things are headed the other way. This off-season the Dodgers added two new starters to their rotation, crossing fingers that their history of injury is behind them.
Brandon...

With five playoff spots in each league, there is a good chance that a race or two extends to the last game of the season. In an effort to amplify the drama, Major League Baseball has scheduled every game on the final day of the regular season to start...

Even before Joc Pederson showed up for spring training, the Dodgers had said the center field job would be a battle between Pederson and Andre Ethier.
A month later that battle has become a rout.
After going three for three with a home run in...

Clarity! You demand clarity!
The Dodgers are at the midpoint of their 2015 exhibition season today and you want answers to their burning spring questions.
Demand all you like, it ain’t happening. And nor should it at this point.
Has Joc Pederson won...

AT THE PLATE: The Dodgers got just two hits but one of them was a towering solo home run by Joc Pederson with one out in the ninth to account for the game's only run. The Dodgers would like to open the season with Pederson as their everyday...

Hyun-Jin Ryu made his first appearance of the spring Thursday and he looked to be in midseason form, retiring all six batters he faced in the Dodgers' 1-0 win over the San Diego Padres.
Ryu had his spring debut delayed by back soreness that so...

Paco Rodriguez. Name ring any bells? Was a left-handed relief monster for the first five months of 2013? Had a 1.91 ERA and a .140 opponent batting average?
He was only 22 years old, his future bright as a supernova.
But then came a disastrous September...

Balance, great thing to have if you’re a gymnast, a Flying Wallenda or have a job and family. Also a very nice thing for a baseball lineup.
Whatever you may think of the Dodgers’ individual moves this off-season, for 2015 it has left them a very nicely...

You take the first step, then a second, and you see where it takes you. Or in the case of a pitcher, the first throw. Brett Anderson had not been in a competitive baseball situation since Aug. 5, when his back called and surgery answered.
But the Dodgers...